By now you should have already figured out my love for discovering out these beauty pageants and giving a buzz to them. And as long as my readers think these beauty contests do no harm, I will keep writing about them (so your time to convince me via comments if you think otherwise). True that beauty titles are cliché but hey let me introduce you to this one “Miss Terai” which however differentiates itself by focusing on a specific region i.e. “Terai”. I had stumbled beauty contests on various themes of race and places before but on basis of geographical region (broad area than place) this should be the first one. I expect you haven’t heard of Miss Himali and Miss Pahadi now.
Anyway coming to Miss Terai; “Prasun Singh” who hails from Mahottari in Terai was crowned the Miss Terai at the Miss Terai 2011 pageant held on April 23. With the title, Prasun Singh becomes the first ever Miss Terai. Anushree Baidya was announced the first runner-up and also Miss Talent, while Amisha Thapa was declared the second runner-up.
Without any offence, it’s a fact that Terai’s female are comparatively backwards in comparison to other regions, mostly in terms of participation and somewhat in progress. In regions mostly influenced by the neighbouring country India’s state Bihar and UP, the condition is really miserable.
Hopefully contests like this will help encourage women of Terai region to move on the path of progress. And this will now somewhere include the responsibility of winners like Prasun Singh to do something to uplift the status of women Community of Terai.
About forty participants made it to the competition which was then narrowed down to top 15. Participants included – Sapana Chand (Miss Nepalgunj), Manisha Nagbanshi (Nepalgunj), Dipika Shah (Sarlahi), Ranju Suman (Sarlahi), Ashmita Shah (Saptari), Bhawana Ghimire (Chitawan), Indira Rana (Udaypur), Sita Poudel (Jhapa), Sabina Pradhan (Jhapa), Pooja Thapa (Jhapa), Prasun Singh (Mahattori), Anushree Vaidya (Rautahat), Manisha Sharma chalise (Bardiya), Shreya Kumari (Mirchaya), Namrata Dhital (Shiraha), Seli Shah (Dhanusha), Amisha Thapa (Biratnagar) . The contestants were chosen on the basis of their identification, presentation, knowledge about their respective culture and know-how about ways to promote their culture.
Organized by Infinity International, the competition jury comprised of coreographer Rojin Shakya, journalist Pradeep Niraula, film director Suman Dahal, singer Rupa Jha, and Maithaili literatery figure Dhirendra Premshri.
Congratulations to Miss Prasun Singh. Hope she keeps up with the good work!